This is such a great visual for all grade levels to use. When students have book talks and really dig into a text, I like to eavesdrop on their conversations, interjecting to ask if they information they shared or discussed was explicit or the inferred. Students immediately look at the chart and I can also see their brains checking off the characteristics of each. This really takes something that feels abstract and makes it much more tangible and easy to quantify.

With the spreading use of computers and mobile technology in schools, going digital with student portfolios has become more popular. Simply put, digital portfolios are online collections of student work. They allow us to archive, curate and analyze samples of student learning from both the past and the present and keep that data — literally — at the tip of our finger.

I am always searching for a way to provide support for students who struggle. How can I build in scaffolds to help them feel successful and help them to gradually become more independent with their reading and writing?

What are you willing to do to shift the mindset in your classroom? What does learning mean to your students and how will you help them understand how to recognize achievement? Read on to learn one possible way to handle this discussion.

I really enjoyed this article on "do's" and "don'ts" for empowering students in digital literacy techniques. I think we forget - this is where our students shine. The article points out that today's undergraduates have NEVER known life without the internet. How do we use that to help our students learn more?

When we talk about how our education system is failing our students, there are a lot of different options presented on how to ‘fix’ it. Everyone has an answer, a promising new way of thinking, a potential magic bullet. Inevitably, we also examine school systems that are working as a part of investigating what to do …

I rarely assigned homework. It seemed counter-productive and counter-intuitive. The exception, if can be called homework, were projects which engaged students and their parents at home. This provided an untapped resource, excited students and parents, and was highly successful. I always provided more time for these projects so they did not work against learning.

Good piece, but need to consider also; this country is not really catering to multi-cultural group. But, we should learn from their examples - we in Australia definitely moving towards over-educating, with even prep losing its play-based approach. Also worth noting - the teacher in the classroom has the biggest impact on whether or not the students will learn - effective teachers=effective learners.

"David Liben, who was involved in the creation of the Common Core and is now Senior Content Specialist at Student Achievement Partners, provides this simple explanation of evidence under the new standards: “It means asking children two questions:

‘What is your evidence?''How did you figure that out?’

The point is to ask students to answer not just based on their thoughts or opinions, but on evidence in the text.”

"writing may help students develop their critical-thinking skills, but writing does not necessarily teach critical thinking" "The best way to help students learn critical thinking may be to actually teach it."

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